Description

Abstract: This is the first controlled experiment to quantify the e!ect of introduced tilapia on indigenous species. This experiment was conducted in small earthen ponds (100m2) to assess the impact of mixed-sex or all-male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) on small indigenous species (SIS) commonly found in south Asia, mola (Amblypharyngodon mola), chela (Chela cachius) and punti (Puntius sophore). Ponds were fertilized, then stocked with 0.56 fish m-2 of water surface area in the mixed-sex and all-male tilapia treatments and 0.42 fish m-2 in the treatment without tilapia. No additional nutritional inputs were applied after stocking. Treatments were: mixed-sex tilapia with SIS, mono-sex male tilapia with SIS and SIS without tilapia (control). All treatments were stocked with 14 fish per species. All species reproduced during the 21-month culture duration. The number of recruits varied by species, Tilapia reproduced in greater numbers than SIS. Tilapia numbers at harvest were the highest (451 25/100m2) in the mixed-sex treatment compared with mola (221